SACRAMENTO — AB 1576 cleared California's Assembly Labor and Employment Committee, 5-0, today.
The hearing before the legislative panel today was well represented from both camps in favor or against state legislation that would require mandatory use of condoms in adult films and employer-paid STI screening.
Longtime adult performer Nina Hartley, FSC CEO Diane Duke and FSC board chair Jeffrey Douglas spoke to panel members in opposition to the revised legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Isadore Hall.
Hall was joined by proponents of the bill, including Cameron Bay and Rod Daily, both former performers who are HIV-positive, and an AIDS Healthcare Foundation official.
This is the third time that Hall has attempted to push through mandatory barrier protection; last year, he sponsored two pieces of legislation in unsuccessful bids to mandate condom use in the adult production industry. But they died on the vine.
The latest incarnation, AB 1576, makes testing mandatory 14 days before performers work on the set, and adds stipulations for training and workers comp review. It also would add a criminal prosecution element.
Hall told panel members Wednesday that the bill has been refined to work with Cal/OSHA rules already in place and after five adult film actors tested positive for HIV in late summer. The legislator noted that moratoriums set in place were unenforced and largely ignored by the industry.
AB 1576 next will be weighed and put to a vote by the Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media Committee.
